Page 68 of Karma Kitty Christmas
“Does she eat now?” he asked.
“You really did sleep through Lamaze, didn’t you?” Allegra shot back.
“All she has to do now is exist,” Isaac told him. “She’s doing great, aren’t you, sweetheart?”
Tentatively, Isaac reached out a gentle finger to soothe a wrinkled red cheek, and the baby closed its eyes and seemed to lean into the touch.
“Oh, see,” Allegra murmured. “Uncle Isaac’s the favorite already.”
“It’s a family requirement,” Luca said, taking the three of them in. Unexpectedly, he felt his eyes grow hot. “Oh my God, Allegra. Our family—look at it.”
“It’s so beautiful,” she murmured, although her eyes seemed to be exclusively on her daughter. Fair enough, Luca thought, but as Isaac leaned in, as in love with their new member as Allegra was, Luca remembered their dreamy, exhausted conversation on the couch.
Their family. It was as miraculous as he’d always imagined.
TWO HOURSlater, Luca left Isaac knitting by Allegra’s bed so he could go settle everybody in for Thanksgiving, as well as tell them all the good news. He’d been torn as to whether to stay by Allegra and have Isaac do that, or go himself, but in the end he had to concede that it washisgrandparents andhisfriend and coworker, and he should probably be the one to go give details and tell stories and, in the end, put together care packages of Thanksgiving dinner to bring so Allegra didn’t have to settle for hospital food on Thanksgiving.
His grandmother insisted on serving him while he regaled everybody at the table with the gory details. This included Roxy, who was getting picked up by her husband shortly, since she’d arrived to start putting things in the oven.
“So?” Roxy said, waiting while he finished a heavenly mouthful of stuffing and gravy. “Isaac already blabbed that itwas a girl—and way to drop the ball on getting me the foot rub, by the way.”
Luca gave her an unrepentant grin. “Your husband will give you a foot rub anytime you want one and you know it,” he teased fondly.
“Yeah, but stolen foot rubs feel better,” she retorted. “And you’re dodging out on the question. What did she name the baby?”
Luca’s smile stretched his cheeks as he remembered Isaac holding the baby while his sister slept. “Blessing,” he said. “Blessing Noelle, because, you know, so close to Christmas.”
Sophia clapped her hands, and Geordie hugged his wife in excitement. “Perfecto!”
“Blessing Noelle,” Roxy said, staring. “’Cause that won’t get the little darling beat up on the playgroundever.”
Luca cocked his head. “Your husband named your children afterbirds.”
Roxy chuckled. “Yeah. Falcon Justice will protect her. It’ll be fine.” She yawned—as she should, since she’d pretty much worked ontwoThanksgiving meals that day. “So, how’sIsaacin all of this?”
Luca closed his eyes, the contentment on Isaac’s face suffusing him with joy. “Thrilled,” he said, struggling to open his eyes for the people in front of him. “Happier than I’ve ever seen him.”
“Good,” Roxy said, reaching out to take Luca’s hand. “You guys, hold on to each other as long as this lasts. Family,goodfamily, is exactly like that baby. A blessing. A true, real blessing.”
Luca’s arms ached to hold his lover, to feel the truth of that, but today, in the midst of this hectic, magical maelstrom, he knew that he had to hold it all in his heart.
“Truth,” he said happily. “So much truth.”
ROXY ANDhis grandparents sent him up to his room for a two-hour nap before he got to bring food back to the hospital. When he arrived, Allegra was nursing the baby—who was eating like a champion now—and Isaac was practically sleep-knitting in the corner of the room.
After thanking him for the food and catching up on how Thanksgiving was going, the conversation lulled, falling into exhausted patterns of comfort topics while the three of them recovered from a quite unrestful night.
It was Allegra who drew attention to what Isaac was knitting.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Isn’t that the yarn? The brown stuff—pretty for brown, but you kept shoving it into the back of the stash.”
Isaac smiled a little and held up what was obviously a hat. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m using it in my student hats this year. It’s got so many hidden colors in it—it really works well as the background for colorful designs. And this way I can get rid of it without….” He shuddered.
“Having to make a crap-brown sweater with nothing but plain stitching,” Luca filled in, remembering that one fateful day.
Isaac gazed sleepily into his eyes. “Not all brown is bad,” he said. “This yarn has some good properties. It’s time it found a place where it can be used and loved. I think the kids are really going to like these hats.”
Luca stared at the fanciful colorwork and had no doubt.
